Shopping Online ~
Retail & Online ~
Boutiques
~
Bakeries ~
Places to Eat ~
Food & Drink ~
Raw Food ~
Clothing & Accessories ~
Supplements ~
Cosmetics & Toiletries
~
Cleaning
~
Candles ~
Pet Care
Bed & Breakfasts
~
Retreats &
Healing Centers ~
Services
Liz Lovely Inc.
"We are a socially responsible business. We are committed to supporting sustainable agriculture by using organic ingredients as much as possible, and supporting human rights through the use of fairly traded chocolate."
Location: Waitsfield, VT. 05673
Owner: Liz is 100% vegan for about 10 yrs.
Vegan Staff: The bakery staff is currently 100% strictly vegan. Dan Holtz, the vice president and co-founder has been mostly-vegan for 8-10 yrs.
In business: a few years
Sells: Artistically presented cookies
Certified vegan by www.vegan.org
Background: Liz decided to become a vegetarian at about 14. Meat, eggs, and cheese never really appealed to her. She committed to being 100% vegan at 20. In Dan's words: "Liz has always wanted to make 'great cookies that happen to be vegan'. This was not to downplay the vegan aspect of the business, but to ensure that it would be appealing to more than just the small percentage of vegans out there. Our mission is to create awareness about veganism, and you cannot do that with a marginal product that serves only as an alternative to 'real' cookies."
Vegan Delights
Location: 316 N.H. St. #101, Aberdeen, WA. 98520
Owner: Sandra Maupin has been vegan for 17 years.
Vegan staff: 100%
In business since: July 2004
Sells: All handmade cookies in the following flavors: chocolate chip, lemon, chocolate treasures, chocolate mint and oatmeal. Also vegan dog treats
Background: Sandra Maupin, the owner, became vegan to improve her health. "It can be challenging to find good vegan products so for years my mother and I experimented with vegan cookies. I also tested them on my non-vegan friends. The goal was for vegans not to be deprived and have cookies good enough to share with my friends. Thus far, I have not found anyone who does not love our cookies. A friend wanted treats for their dog. It did not take long to create a healthy dog treat."
Vegan Delights is currently experimenting on dog treats with no corn because some dogs are allergic to corn products.
Nutrilicious Natural Bakery
Owners: Cindy and Steve Maril (not vegan)
In business: 15 years
Sells: 42 different donuts, cookies and brownies.
I've tasted their spelt donuts and they are super!
Background: The owners, who bought Nutrilicious three years ago, say "Growing up in a family that ate naturally we were attracted to a natural bakery. I love the fact that we can serve people that are vegan, or have diet restrictions for other reasons. We are starting to make some gluten free products, and have always made cookies and donuts from spelt and wheat." Finally, they add, "We have started making Vegan Horse and Rider treats available on the web-site and in the future we will have Vegan Dog treats."
Sticky Fingers Bakery
"While all our products are vegan, we are a bakery for everyone--not just vegans. Our stuff really does taste that good!"
Location: 1904 18th St. N.W., Washington, DC.
Owners are vegan, since the mid 90's. The founder, Doron Peterson, became vegan for ethical reasons, after working in veterinary clinics.
Vegan Staff: Five out of seven
In business since: October 2002.
Sells: dozens of vegan sweets as well as vegan stromboli and foccacia.
Sun Flour Baking Co.
"With a vegan owner and vegan manager, we ensure that all of our facility and products will remain 100% vegan... Sun Flour Baking truly cares about our customers and the vegetarian movement."
Location: 2464 Marconi Ave., Sacramento, CA.
Owner: Rey Ortega, a vegan for 12 years.
Vegan Staff: 50%, including the general manager, who has been vegan for 6 years and vegetarian 4 years before that (since age 14).
In business since: 1998
Sells: 50 variations of vegan cookies, with gluten-free and sugar-free options.
Their bakery is 100% dedicated vegan. They have turned down many offers to co-pack products that are not vegan.
"We donate hundreds of thousands of cookies to veg-related events around the country every year."
Background: Rey Ortega became vegan after years of sickness. He was not familiar with the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle because he grew up in a macho, pro-meat environment without any guidance for food choices. In fact, he was an omnivore for many years and adamant that he would never give up meat.
Constant sickness drove Rey to research nutrition and he began altering his food choices as a teenager when he cut eggs out of his diet. It wasn't until his early twenties that he figured out it was the meat in his diet that had caused his lifelong sickness. After six months as a vegetarian, he realized that hidden eggs and dairy products were also contributing to an unhealthy body, so he cut all animal products out of his diet and adopted the vegan lifestyle.
Rey's health improved immediately after changing his food choices and he has been a healthy vegan ever since! After not eating a cookie for months, Rey decided he needed to learn how to make an amazing vegan cookie. He experimented until he found the best combination of vegan ingredients to make a cookie that is soft, chewy, moist and full of flavor!
Rey was so excited to be healthy for the first time in this life, that he decided to embrace the new lifestyle by going into business with a vegan bakery. He opened the Alternative Baking Company in 1994 and worked day and night to create one of the first successful, nationwide vegan cookie companies. Rey left ABC in 1998 to start Sun Flour Baking. Since then, Rey has changed his recipes and now offers gluten-free and sugar-free cookies made with a blend of protein and fiber rich pinto bean and rice flour.
Sweet Pea Baking Company
Wholesale and special order cakes, no retail location yet!
Owner: Lisa Higgins has been vegan for 3 years
In business since: the beginning of 2005.
Sells: A wide range of baked goods, from vegan cheesecakes and cakes to muffins, cookies, scones and brownies.
No refined sugars, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or preservatives.
They use organic fair trade chocolate, and as many local and organic products as possible.
Background: "I was vegetarian for many years, and fell off the wagon while touring with my band. After about a year of being an omnivore I decided to go vegan. My friend Matt is vegan, and had a large influence on my decision, he really educated me on veganism and the social and animal rights issues involved. I have al ways loved baking and really enjoyed the science of making recipes vegan. After working on vegan cheesecakes and vegan donuts, more influential friends (Chad and Emiko from Food Fight!) encouraged me to start selling my products at their store. Things just grew from there."
Simple Treats
Location: Seattle, Washington
Owner: Jill Abraham, a vegan for 10 years.
Vegan Staff: 25%
In business since: 2000
Sells: Over 100 varieties of baked goods, plus custom orders. Four products are available wholesale: Double Chocolate Fudge Brownies, Chocolate Chip Blondies, Raspberry Jam Dot Cookies, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Background: "I became vegan when I made the connection that all animal products come from the factory farming industry. I immediately stopped eating dairy and then also stopped buying animal products, such as leather and wool. We started Simple Treats after we graduated from the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in 2000, and Ellen began creating these amazing vegan recipes. We opened up in 2000, selling to local coffee shops and health food stores, and now are distributing nationwide. We have published a cookbook with all of our recipes, entitled: Simple Treats; A Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free Guide To Scrumptious Baked Goods; by Ellen Abraham."
Nana's Cookie Company
"Devoted to providing the world healthy and delicious snacks."
Location: 4901 Morena Blvd. #401, San Diego, CA.
Owner (founder and president): Miriam Diamond (vegan)
In business: 13 years
Sells: An assortment of cookies, some gluten-free and wheat-free options, cookie bars and Temptations (Gourmet Chocolate Bars).
A woman-owned company
Background: "I started this business because people wanted healthy treats that tasted good. My friends spread the word from just a few cookies. I started experimenting and baking more cookies, opened a small kitchen in San Diego, and customers came knocking. Quickly we were getting hundreds of phone calls and e-mails asking for wheat-free, gluten-free cookies... Our mission is to put a Nana's cookie in every child's hand."
Goodbaker Inc.
"The best dairy-free baking mixes on the market... a new standard has been set: these mixes are fantastic. Seriously." (Veg News Magazine, April 2003)
Location: 1 Fitchburg St., Somerville, MA.
Owner: Lee Busch - a vegan for 3 years.
Vegan Staff: Not all the staff is vegan.
In business: 3 years
Sells: Baking mixes - Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie, Double Chocolate Chip Cookie, Oatmeal-Spice Cookie, Chocolate Fudge Low-Fat Brownie, Chocolate Cake and Cupcake, Ganache Frosting and Fudge, Wheat-Free Multigrain Pancake and Waffle, and Magic Multigrain Muffin.
Background: Lee Busch founded Goodbaker when he became unable to digest animal products due to the medical overuse of antibiotics. This was the beginning of his vegan awakening. He quickly became completely vegan, first for health, then for the animals, and the planet.
He wasn't happy with vegan dessert options available, so he started making his own, and they were so good, he decided to share them. Goodbaker's desserts are not simply vegan, they are also whole-grain and use organic ingredients. They are produced artisan-style in small batches for strict quality control.
Angel Foods, Inc.
Location: Auckland, New Zealand, no retail location yet
Owner: Both directors are vegan.
Vegan Staff: One shareholder (inactive) is not vegan, part-time staff member is semi-vegetarian.
In business since: World Vegetarian Day (October 1) 2006
Sells: Gluten-free cakes, cupcakes and cookies, vegan fudge and marshmallows.
Background: "I became vegan in mid 2004, six weeks after meeting my husband Billy (who's been vegan for 30-plus years) and realizing that the way he lived his life was also right for me. I set up Angel Food because I wanted to change the perception that a vegan diet was about deprivation and martyrdom."
Vegan Mania
Location: Vancouver BC
Owner: a vegan since 1998
Staff: "It's just me so far. In the future if I have need to hire help I would prefer to hire vegans."
In business since: 2006
All manner of vegan baked goods: gourmet, organic, fair trade cookies, cakes, dessert squares. Local catering.
Background: "It started in '98 when my son was weaned from breastmilk and we were concerned he would develop a dairy allergy since his father has a sensitivity. We were already vegetarian at that point and so did some research into the health problems dairy milk can create and made the decision to eliminate dairy at that point. Of course this led to us learning a lot more about other animal industries and as time wore on and we learned more we felt it would be wrong to continue to support industries that exploit, torture and unneccessarily slaughter innocent, feeling, thinking creatures."
"We love being a part of the local Vancouver farmers markets and talking to our customers face-to-face on market days."
Vegan Treats, Inc.
Location: Bethlehem, PA
Owner: Danielle, a vegan for 15 years or so.
Staff: "Not everyone that works for me is vegan unfortunately but a majority are. We're still working on the other ones!"
In business: almost 10 years
We make well over 200 products including: Cakes, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, crumble bars, moon pies, ice cream, ice cream cakes, doughnuts, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, petit fours, French Pastries....
"I went vegan after seeing a lobster being boiled. It put into perspective that the suffering of animals was more than I could bear. My meal was served to me (a non-vegetarian meal) and I didn't eat it and never ate animals again from that time forward."
"The company started by accident. I baked a lot at home after going vegan and never thought of it as anything special. The first thing I ever made was this white whipped cream that people still rave about but at the time I thought it was the same as what everyone else was making... I had no idea that in truth, what I was making was a unique product. Later I had a friend who owned a restaurant and for some reason I brought him some leftover cake. He asked me to bake for his establishment the next thing you know... snowball effect. It started with three cakes, the following week it was 10, and the rest went by so fast."
"We have a retail store in Bethlehem, PA and we also bake for approx. 40 restaurants and stores in the NYC/Philadelphia areas. There's a list on vegantreats.com or on myspace.com/vegantreats"
